'Flu shelf' is therapeutic for avid reader Carol Bleck turns to her favorite books for a lift.

December 05, 2005|JUDY BRADFORD Tribune Correspondent

SOUTH BEND The days are short and cold weather is here, so it's time for Carol Bleck to head for her "flu shelf" and her to-read list. This master gardener, who spends summer days outside tending to plants, organizes her reading into two major categories. But mostly, she loves to talk about her "flu shelf." "My flu shelf is made up of favorite books or series where, if you're feeling down, you can always turn to for a good turn of words or phraseology that just lifts you up," she said. The flu shelf includes books she's read before. "You can just flop down and doze off if you want to, and then come back to it. You already know what's coming, so it's a pleasure." Books on the flu shelf include Janet Evanovich's danger-laced-with-humor mystery series with main character Stephanie Plum. Plum is a young New Jersey woman who takes up bounty hunting after losing her job in a lingerie store. Also on the flu shelf is Dan Jenkins' "Fast Copy," a page-turner that combines romantic comedy with murder mystery. Set in Texas during the middle of the Depression, it focuses on a young journalist and her husband who moved from New York City to Claybelle, Texas. Bleck, 69, who is retired, thinks the reason she enjoys mysteries is because she grew up reading Nancy Drew books. She can remember reading under the covers with her flashlight, trying to conceal her late-night reading habit from her mother. She reads some nonfiction, however, and enjoys biographies. "I like the classic biographies and autobiographies, as opposed to the moneymakers of today," she said. "I must admit, though, I am a sucker for anything about (Princess) Diana." Among her favorite autobiographies is Rocky Bleier's "Fighting Back." Bleier, a former University of Notre Dame football player, played for the Pittsburgh Steelers before being drafted and injured during the Vietnam war. "Fighting Back" is about his struggle to return to the NFL. She also lists Richard Wright's "Native Son" as a favorite story. Set in Chicago, in 1930, it's about a black man, Bigger Thomas, who accidentally kills the child of the wealthy white family he works for. Among the greatest storytellers, she lists Fanny Flagg, who wrote "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe," which became a movie, and "Standing in the Rainbow." Flagg's newest book is "A Redbird Christmas." Bleck also collects paperbacks, which come in handy when traveling. She volunteers as a gardener for Copshaholm and also as a docent at the Potawatomi Zoo. She enjoys books about animals, and one of her all-time favorite books is "Every Night, Josephine," a book about how a dog takes over a girl's life. The author is Jacqueline Susann. Bleck lives only minutes from the Francis Branch of the St. Joseph County Public Library, and she can be found there frequently, browsing and reading. She marvels that libraries now are places where people gather socially and can talk quietly, not like in the old days when one could barely whisper.